Will the Eagles Issues in the Red Zone Continue in 2010?

For some reason, the Eagles have had large struggles in the red zone over recent years. Last Friday nights game against Jacksonville wasn’t a positive indication that we would see a whole lot of improvement in 2010.

The Eagles offense didn’t seem to have a whole lot of trouble driving the ball in their first preseason game; however, they seemed to hit a wall once they inside the red zone. Throughout the night, the team settled for field goals in situations where they should have been scoring touchdowns.

Red zone production is going to be particularly important for the team this year as they aren’t counting on scoring as many “home run” touchdowns with Donovan McNabb’s deep ball.

Over the past three seasons, the Eagles have found themselves ranked in the bottom 10 in terms of converting touchdowns in the red zone. These were in years where the team was setting the franchise record for most points scored so you know they relied a lot on the big play.

The offense has so many weapons that they should be able to figure something out. Michael Vick is a guy I can see being a big help in the red zone this year. We saw him do some nice things last season around the area, and he looked pretty good around the goal line against Jacksonville if you take away the fumble.

With the talent they have on offense, red zone success should only come down to execution. There’s plenty of options available, so it’s just a matter of finding out how they can execute the most effectively.

The team has been spending some extra time in practice working on their red zone offense and hopefully it’s helping. Throughout the rest of the preseason and the regular season, the Eagles red zone production will be something very interesting to watch.